Not much by way of an excuse for Sunday's shambles (we've been a shambles far too often this season for it to be swept under the carpet), but I was surprised to see that since reaching the magic 40 points at the end of February, West Brom have managed just 6 points in 10 games.

Now if Pulis - a better organiser and more consistent motivator than our Slav, I think most would agree, even if he's obviously a massive cunt - can't get his pampered millionaires to put a shift in, it might not be so surprising that our shower can't be arsed either...

ZICO,Could not agree more.I really like Bilic and I've said it on here more than once.However........Some questions I would love to put to him:1) How come you let the biggest prospect since Rio leave on loan to reading and he is not even on the bench for the game at Fulham on Saturday.?2) Just who is in charge of recruitment as what we have brought in is a joke?3) What plans have you to blood one or two youngsters for next weekend.4) How can you supposedly recruit according to the press old has been's like Toure,Mertens,Zabaleta and guys over 30.5) Just what does that say to Oxford,Burke, Cullen,Knowle,Rice etc etc.

You're right that the 'Uncle Slav' tag seems to be the case for a core of players. But the flip side of that is that the players outside that inner circle seem to at best feel left out, and at worst Bilic doesn't care if he pisses them off and if they complain they are labelled as troublemakers and exiled. We were all told that the players at Besiktas loved him, and I'm sure the likes of Reid, Cresswell, Kouyate, Lanzini, Noble, Carroll etc would tell you the same now. Why wouldn't they? Now, some of those players have earned the fact that they always start when available, but others haven't. I reckon if you dug down deep enough at Besiktas and his previous clubs you'd also find a fair few opinions more along the lines of what Arbeloa, Sakho, Valencia, Amalfitano, even Nolan and perhaps Byram, Masuaku, and Fletcher would probably say if they were being completely honest. Now, again, with most of those players the decision to sideline them to various extents was probably the correct one. But if and when we did have to rely on them while they were still at the club, what impact might that have on their motivation? A few players - Antonio, Masuaku more recently - have managed to play their way into his affections but there haven't been many more examples and that probably took a lot of inner steel to do so and says a lot for their professionalism.

Bilic clearly has his trusted lieutenants and if you are one of those then of course all is rosy. But his insistence on picking those players first and then finding a system that allows him to do so second has led to a lot of strange selections - this season in particular.

If players are acting up as per Amalfitano, Sakho, Arbeloa if the rumours are to be believed then clearly it is the manager's right to come down on that hard. But I'm not so sure it's the sign of a strong manager exclusively, as you also have to question yourself on how things deteriorated to that point and what could have been done differently. Bilic however never seems to learn. 'My way or the highway' sounds great but in reality it is often counterproductive and the best leaders are capable of turning people around to their way of thinking and keeping them onside.

Plenty of managers do the 'inner circle' thing. Conte is one - when Nathan Ake was at Bournemouth he apparently contacted Chelsea to ask if he was in the first team plans at all, and he couldn't even speak to Conte but had to be informed 'not at the moment' by an assistant. And yet, when circumstances meant he did return to Chelsea his performances since suggest he was made to feel welcome and trusted. Can we really imagine that happening if we had been able to recall the likes of Oxford, Burke, or Cullen this season? I'm not so sure. Even Batshuayi who hadn't started a game since January and knows full well that he is off in the summer seemed to feel he was part of the club when he got his chance and he was able to go and score the goal that secured the title.

We don't have reserve players of that calibre, but you can only work with what you've got and while people are still within the club there remains the possibility you may have to rely on them at some point. Keeping those players onside is a massive part of being a good man manager. Being all cosy with the players who already like you, isn't so much when it comes at the cost of massively reducing the options you have available because you always want to play Kouyate even if it's at right back for example.

Wasn't a great surprise really considering 90% of that 11 are clearly not good enough for the EPL. But it does piss me off how players can put in a shift against Spurs and yet not a week later (or for 80% of the season to be honest). In fact Noble annoyed me when in his interview last week he admitted the extra effort. Ok I know it was Spurs but work rate, and effort (in simplistic terms - just run around a lot) should be a given week in week out).

Yep ok it could have been a penalty but come on the arm brushed Winston, hardly connected, no need for such a strong centre back to lie there like he had been poleaxed,. Get up, chase back and then argue all you like once the ball has been put in Row Z.

Need massive surgery in the summer but you will have to get rid of at least Byram, Fonte, Nordtveit, Calleri, Ayew, Snodgrass, Arbeloa, Sakho, Tore and Feghouli.

Noble, Kouyate, Reid, Adrian, Ogbonna, and Cresswell are good enough but need to either have a massive kick up the arse or just up their game from this season. Fernandes and Fletcher are decent future prospects and Collins and Masuaku are decent back up. Carroll and Sakho would be shoe in’s but aren’t fit enough mentally or physically! So that leaves us with Lanzini, Obiang and Antonio who are arguably three regular starters.

Not easy finding and paying for 8 new regular starters especially considering you will struggle to give away half of those in the outs paragraph!!

Changing the mentality of a club is what is needed and that takes investment on the levels our owners are not willing to see through, this lot have turned up this season only when really needed to and no more, yesterday was always going to be a trouncing once we had secured the Spurs result. The players are comfortable they know they can have a weekend off and be secured of their place in the team the following match. Until real investment is put into the team and players know that anything but 100% is required to stay in the team week in week out they will live in their comfort zone and 40 points or the odd season like last year is about as good as it's going to get.

You do get the feeling that its Uncle Slav to the players. Must be great being a player under him aside from the results on the pitch.

"Nice lads don't win football matches" Bobby Moore's alleged words to Ron Greenwood back in the early 70s after Ron talked about the great blokes we had in the team and squad and it was not always about winning.

Those days have returned. The "west Ham way"? The odd game where we outplay better teams but always good for conceding a few goals.

Did Arbeloa take part in the post match walk?He's been an invisible man since he and Bilic are rumoured to have had words about the so-called lack of professionalism at the training ground.He's still getting paid so I expect he will remain silent until his contract finally comes to an end.Very strange state of affairs that a player of his standing should be treated like a leper.

Hammer of the Year on crutchesHalf the team injuredMost expensive player in our history can't tap a ball into the net from a yardComplete and utter collapse once we were behind1,000 people left in the stadium for the post match stroll with no manager or owners daring to show their faces